President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni met a group of investors from Strand Hanson Limited, a London-based company, at State House Entebbe on Thursday, July 7, 2023, and assured them of ready-market for lithium car batteries.
During the meeting, the President received and accepted their proposal of mining lithium in Ntungamo district that shall be used to locally manufacture electric car batteries.
He informed the investors that Uganda is currently making electric vehicles but still imports batteries, which leads to unnecessary additional costs for the country.
“I welcome you and support you; please go ahead and make the batteries. We can link you up with Kiira Motors, which is making our electric vehicles, to buy the batteries from you,” President Museveni said.
The president also assured the investors that the mining licence would be processed as soon as possible so that the lithium mining process could begin.
“The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development will process for you the mining license. I want you to link the mining with the processing,” he said.
According to the president, in partnership with a locally based versatile mining and laboratory company, the investors will mine lithium and manufacture the electric batteries.
Johnny Kirkl, a representative of Strand Hanson Limited, told the President that the mining site has already been identified in Ntungamo and that it is only the mining licence remaining to kick off the project.
“I want to look at the possibility, with your permission, of opening up a factory to manufacture batteries instead of taking lithium out of the country. We should export the batteries after being produced here,” he added.
The President recently asked South African businesspeople to show interest in Uganda’s E-mobility sector by investing in areas such as lithium battery manufacturing.
